Thursday, August 23, 2007

I remember when we learned about subsistence farming in high school. Honestly I didn’t really get it. I understood the idea of farming for survival, but it seemed like an archaic idea, doesn’t everyone just go to the nearest Whole Foods to get his or her fresh farm fix. Well Cuesta Marina depends on the corn and bean harvests to live. Most people harvest each crop and store about 75% for family consumption and sell the other 25%. Others grow the crops purely for family consumption. Right now- the middle of August- we are in the middle of the corn harvest. Corn might as well be its own food group. Salvadorans use corn to make tortillas- the fork supplement, corn tamales, reiguas- sweet corn cakes, and Atol- a corn based hot drink. The fresh corn on the cob- elote- that the men bring in fresh every day in August is super duper yummy. Corn has now also become a primary food in my daily diet. I have come to appreciate the diversity of corn; it can be both sweet and savory and can be eaten with almost any other food including honey and cream.

Last Sunday we went out to the field and brought back two large sacks of fresh untouched corn. Elena and her daughters Katie and Sandra as well as my neighbor friends Diana and Gena, and myself had a ball going to get the corn and sitting down telling jokes while we shucked it. The girls told me that they thought it was amazing how one can plant two cornels in a small hole and in return get a handful of corn on the cobs. It is amazing and maybe that’s why people still depend on it.

































At the end of last week El Salvador suffered from some mean rains and winds. After the storms a volunteer friend called me to tell me that his crops that he and his school had planted were completely destroyed by the winds. The crops could no longer produce, and therefore there would be no eating of those crops. Luckily other people had planted earlier and their corn had already harvested. But what happens to the families that were too late in planting their crops and were deeply affected by the wind and rain damage. A man from my community once told me that the reason why Salvadorans, especially those in rural parts, still have very large families of five kids or more- usually more- is because the children can go to the fields or a tree and get lunch. Lunching it this way is definitely more cost affective. Unfortunately it is very hard to predict and prevent against rains, strong winds, and natural disasters in general. While I love shucking corn, going in the fields, using the tortilla as my fork and eating reiguas with honey, I now truly understand the difficulties that come with subsistence farming and living- very little power lies in human hands.